2000-06-08 04:00:00 PDT San Francisco -- On the surface, the dispute that had wrested the attention of a number of city bureaucrats, lawmakers and hundreds of residents of St. Francis Wood appeared to be a simple one -- a matter of determining private property rights and potential safety hazards.

But things rarely rest on the surface in the political labyrinth of San Francisco, where personal connections often overshadow the law, and planning decisions can be based on something as fluid as an unwritten favor.

This will help explain why there aren't many eight-foot pillars in the country that have received more attention than the one on Yerba Buena Avenue at the eastern entrance to "the Wood," one of the most opulent neighborhoods in town and a place where the most contentious issues are usually settled quietly between neighbors or highly paid attorneys.

But there is nothing quiet about the fight between the St. Francis Homes Association (SFHA) and homeowner Michael C. Acabado. Which is why his seemingly benign request to move one of the historic entrance pillars 13 feet from his driveway ended up in the Board of Supervisors chambers Monday and provided a crystalline view of how juice works in San Francisco.

The supervisors, led by Leslie Katz, approved Mr. Acabado's request based on the testimony of a number of his friends who said they had difficulty avoiding the pillar when departing his busy manse in their cars. Public works officials came up with a similar finding -- although like the supervisors, they were never informed of how Acabado could benefit financially by the pillar's absence. Nor was it widely known how Acabado's associations in gay and Democratic circles could help him out.

Or as Acabado told me when I first met him outside his house last week: "The (association) board has its connections, and I have mine." And I'll leave it to you to decide who has better connections.

Last winter, shortly after Willie Brown was re-elected, two things happened in quick succession: Acabado, an aspiring political player, held a lavish fund-raiser for the mayor at his house and then asked the SFHA for permission to move the pillar away from his driveway, citing safety concerns.

The fund-raiser, by all accounts, was a success. The request for the pillar replacement was unceremoniously denied.

The board said there was little evidence to support Acabado's claim. The pillar, after all, has been in place for 70 years. Why is it, the members asked, the many previous owners of Mr. Acabado's home never complained and the police and Department of Parking and Traffic have no records of accidents or claims filed over collisions with the pillar? Acabado said he had damaged a friend's car, but had never filed an insurance claim.

The St. Francis Homeowners Association is unique in San Francisco. Under agreements signed back around the 1920s, the neighborhood's sidewalks and parkways, which were designed by renowned landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted, are owned and maintained by the homeowners group -- not the city.

The board said that rather than move the pillar, perhaps Acabado should just widen his driveway. Acabado didn't agree and with that, went to the Department of Public Works.

This is where the official disconnect begins, for it turns out there is more to the pillar problem and Acabado's frustration with his association than met the Department of Public Works' eye.

For starters, there was already bad blood between Acabado and the SFHA. He had been rebuffed in his attempts to join the association board -- an entity that he says has no representative from the more than 80 Asian American families that reside in the Wood.

And DPW was not aware that Mr. Acabado owns an adjoining parcel. It's quite a prize lot, almost 40,000 square feet, and one that is steeped in a rather rocky history. The previous owner had tried to develop four houses on the site and clear-cut a giant grove of trees on the lot, angering residents throughout St. Francis Wood and its staid board. The owner eventually ran into permit problems, scaled back development plans to just one estate, and then ultimately sold the lot to Acabado.

It is the contention of many neighbors and members of the board that the real reason Acabado wants to move the pillar is to allow easier access to the adjoining property to make it more attractive to a developer. And Acabado admits that he would like to make the lot more accessible -- since he is trying to sell it for $3.9 million.

Acabado, a boyish man in his 30s who said he made his money in telecommunications, is one of the most open people I've ever encountered. When I went out to view the pillar last week, he came bounding out of his home, a cell phone in each hand, to see if I was interested in the lot. Within minutes of meeting me, he unabashedly gave me a tour of both properties, introduced me to his lover and gave me his take on the long-running dispute with the association.

There was a giant tent set up in his backyard for a fund-raiser to be held that evening, for none other than Sen. Dianne Feinstein. At the behest of some of his political friends, Acabado had agreed to lend his house for the occasion. And the Thursday night fund-raiser, which featured an assortment of gay and lesbian groups feting the senator, raised more than $50,000 for Feinstein's re-election campaign.

And serving as the event's honorary co-chairs were Supervisors Katz and Mark Leno and city Treasurer Susan Leal, leading members of the city's gay political establishment.

Four days after the fund-raiser, after turning down the homeowners association's request for a continuance, the supervisors, led by Katz and Leno, turned down the SFHA's appeal to block the pillar replacement. Katz said she based her decision "solely on the issue of safety," and cited the DPW's analysis, which found that the pillar did obscure some sight lines.

"It's kind of sad that there was so much fighting over this," Acabado told me yesterday. "I tried to work with the (neighborhood) board. But I guess they viewed me as a threat."

Terry Norbury, president of the SFHA board of directors, said the supervisors' decision sets a dangerous precedent for other neighborhood associations, since it's the first time the city has taken over control of private property controlled and maintained by one group.

"And if one homeowner can do it, what's to stop other homeowners from taking down trees and lampposts and doing whatever they want?" he said. "It's the association's right to protect the character of the Wood for all of its members."

But in San Francisco, some associations count more than others. It just takes some people a little longer to figure it out.